To bake: Place the polenta pieces on a lightly oiled baking sheet and place in a preheated 375o F oven until lightly browned and crispy, about 20 minutes. Invert the polenta onto a cutting board and cut it into any desired shape for grilling, frying or baking. (One whole recipe of Basic Polenta makes enough to fill two 13 x 9-inch baking dishes about ½ inch.) Cover with plastic wrap applied directly to the surface and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled and very firm, 4 to 5 hours. To serve polenta this way, pour the hot polenta- either freshly made for this purpose or remaining from a batch made to be eaten hot- into a baking pan or mold to a thickness of about ½ inch. To chill the polenta for baking, grilling or pan-frying: You can begin to see the true versatility of polenta when it has been chilled until firm and cut into shapes for baking, grilling or pan-frying. Cut the polenta with a string stretched taut between your index fingers or a thin knife. Let the polenta stand a few minutes until it is firm enough to cut.

(An ice cream scoop can be used in the same fashion it makes nice round mounds of polenta.)įor immediate serving: You may also serve the polenta hot directly from a board in the traditional way: Pour the hot polenta into the center of a wooden cutting board, keeping the polenta in a long, high mound. To serve polenta, scoop onto plates with a large spoon, dipping the spoon in water before each scoop. Let the polenta stand 10 minutes before serving. To serve the polenta hot: Pour the polenta away from you, so you don’t get splattered, into a ceramic bowl. You may need to add a small amount of water during this extra cooking if the polenta begins to stick or become too thick. To continue cooking, reduce the level of heat to low and stir the polenta constantly 5 to 10 minutes. (The polenta should be thick enough to stand a spoon in.) The polenta is ready to serve at this point, or you can to choose to cook it an extra few minutes to intensify the flavor.

When the cornmeal is tender, stir the polenta without adding water until the polenta is shiny and begins to gather around the spoon as you stir it, 5 to 10 minutes. Continue adding water and stirring like this until the cornmeal is tender, about 20 minutes after the cornmeal was added. Stir until the mixture is again too thick to stir easily. Add enough of the “backup” water-about 1 cup-to restore the mixture to a smooth stirring consistency.

Reduce the level of heat to medium-low and continue stirring, until the mixture becomes too thick to stir easily, about 4 minutes. When all the cornmeal is added, the mixture should be smooth and thick and begin to “perk”, with large bubbles will rise to the surface. It should take about 5 minutes to add all the cornmeal. Sift the remaining cornmeal into the water a small handful at a time, stirring constantly, paying special attention to the corners of the pot. Let the cornmeal should fall “a pioggia”-like rain-into the water. Scoop up a small handful of the cornmeal and, while stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or flat-ended stirrer, let it sift slowly through your fingers into the seasoned boiling water. Bring the remaining water, the bay leaves and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil in a 3- to 4-quart cast-iron saucepan, over medium-high heat. In a small saucepan bring 4 cups of water to a simmer keep this “backup” water hot, covered, over medium-low heat.

Polenta fitday